Tag: Ali Krieger

ESPN launches new women’s soccer show focusing on North America

Ali Krieger and Sebastian Salazar will host the hour-long show, which debuts in July

ESPN has announced the launch of “Futbol W,” a weekly studio program that will focus on North American women’s soccer.

The show will be hosted by former U.S. women’s national team star Ali Krieger and Sebastian Salazar, and will mirror the network’s “Futbol Americas” show hosted by Salazar and ex-USMNT forward Herculez Gomez.

The first episode of “Futbol W” will debut July 23 at 9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2 and ESPN+.

Weekly episodes will stream live on ESPN+ on Tuesdays at 6 p.m. ET, and will be available on demand after that.

“We are pleased to launch ‘Futbol W’ amid the popularity and excitement around women’s sports, which is at an all-time high in the United States,” said Manny de la Fe, ESPN’s vice president of production.

“‘Futbol W’ will inform, entertain, and showcase the incredible athletes to sports fans. It will be our signature news and analysis studio program – a weekly one-stop destination for fans to get their need-to-know insight about women’s soccer.”

According to ESPN, the show’s main areas of focus will include the NWSL, the USWNT, Liga MX Femenil, and Concacaf stars playing in Europe.

The hour-long show will also explore the off-field lives of players, including culture, fashion, food, and community in the sport.

[lawrence-related id=53294,33061,74164]

Ali Krieger to join ESPN’s 2023 Women’s World Cup coverage

The longtime USWNT defender is looking to start a career in TV after her retirement

Ali Krieger will join ESPN as an analyst for the 2023 Women’s World Cup, Pro Soccer Wire can reveal.

Krieger, a two-time World Cup champion with the U.S. women’s national team, will appear as a studio analyst on three shows: “SportsCenter,” “ESPN FC” and “Futbol Americas.”

It will be a return to ESPN for Krieger, who also worked for the network as an analyst two years ago during the Olympics. This time, she said she will be involved with ESPN through the end of 2023.

The 38-year-old has announced that she will retire following the 2023 NWSL season with NJ/NY Gotham FC, bringing an end to a decorated 17-year professional career.

In an interview with Pro Soccer Wire, Krieger said she is hopeful she will be able to do more television work when her playing career ends.

“I’m so excited to talk soccer,” she said. “Any time I can do that, it’s actually really enjoyable for me. So this is definitely something I see myself doing in the future.”

Krieger has already built up a varied resume of TV work despite still being an active player. She’s made appearances on NBC’s “Premier League Mornings Live,” analyzed U.S. men’s national team games for beIN Sports, and worked as an analyst and sideline reporter for Orlando City games while she was playing for the Orlando Pride.

She also said that being in the spotlight with the USWNT, with whom she earned 108 caps in her career, provides a certain kind of media training in and of itself.

“Being on the women’s national team, you’re just always in front of the camera. And you can kind of do it, or you can’t,” Krieger said.

“You’re thrown in there, you’re doing all these videos and interviews and throughout the years, I think I just got super comfortable in front of the camera.”

Credit: Michael Chow-USA TODAY Sports

Looking ahead, Krieger said she would be interested in branching out beyond sports in her television career, looking to emulate another former athlete who has carved out a very visible role on TV beyond sports.

“I for sure see TV work in my future and I don’t know if that’s just doing sports, or that’s also maybe talk show-type stuff,” she said. “I think of like Michael Strahan and how he’s just put himself in different positions to get to where he is now. And that’s something that would be super incredible.

“That’s a goal of mine to just present not only sports, but just any type of media I would love to be involved with.”

[lawrence-related id=23419,23071,20092]

Former USWNT star Ali Krieger to retire after 2023 NWSL season

One of the NWSL’s biggest names will hang up her boots this winter

One of the most decorated careers in U.S. Soccer history will come to a close at the end of this NWSL season.

Ali Krieger announced Thursday that she will retire at the end of the year, bringing to an end a 17-year professional career in which the Virginia native won two World Cups with the U.S. women’s national team, made three NWSL Best XI lists, and became the first American to win UEFA’s biggest club tournament for women.

“I see the 2023 season as an opportunity to celebrate with our fans and my fellow players, but make no mistake – my entire focus is on winning the NWSL championship with Gotham FC,” said Krieger in a press release from NJ/NY Gotham FC.

“In a career filled with blessings, the NWSL title is one of the only trophies I still have yet to win. I’ve worked really hard to get to this point. I’ve always been inspired by winning, competing, and a desire to be the best, and this will be my last chance to win a championship. I’m determined to work with my teammates to make this final goal a reality. To achieve this before our incredible Gotham FC fans will motivate me every day this season.”

Standout career with USWNT

Following a standout four years with the Penn State Nittany Lions, Krieger’s pro career began abroad with 1.FFC Frankfurt. There, Krieger saw instant success, as Frankfurt won the 2007-08 Frauen-Bundesliga, the Frauen DFB–Pokal, and the UEFA Women’s Cup (the forerunner to today’s Champions League).

While injuries cost her some time with Frankfurt — and necessitated a loan to the Washington Freedom in the 2009 WPS season — Krieger would spent six seasons in Germany before requesting a release from her contract to return home and join the Washington Spirit.

Krieger’s NWSL career would be split fairly evenly between stints with three clubs: four seasons with the Spirit (where she captained the club for three years), five with Orlando, and two with Gotham FC.

With the USWNT, Krieger would pick up 108 caps and was a crucial factor in two World Cups, playing all but 10 minutes in the 2011 and 2015 World Cups. The USWNT would go on to win the latter tournament, and Krieger was also part of the 2019 side that successfully defended that title, including an appearance in their 2-0 win over the Netherlands in that tournament’s final.

[lawrence-related id=6149,9688]

Ashlyn Harris and Ali Krieger have adopted another child

The Gotham FC couple now have a family of four

Ashlyn Harris and Ali Krieger have added to their family.

Both players announced via Instagram on Tuesday that they had adopted a baby boy named Ocean. That takes their family up to four, as they adopted their daughter Sloane last year.

Harris and Krieger, both normally starters for Gotham FC, had both announced that what they referred to as a “family matter” would keep them out of the team’s August 7 game against the Chicago Red Stars, and the pair were both listed as out with an excused absence for Gotham’s trip to face OL Reign on August 14.

As it turns out, the unexpected absence was for good news, a relative rarity in the NWSL: The couple were simply adding to their family.

https://www.instagram.com/p/ChVO7AepoBI/?igshid=YTgzYjQ4ZTY%3D

“My wife and I are excited to share that we have adopted a baby boy. Our hearts are full during this time and we are so grateful for the love and support our family, friends and club have shown,” Harris wrote on Instagram. “Sloane has been thriving and wakes up every morning saying ‘Baby, baby.’ We are incredibly thankful and excited for this new chapter as we parent 2 under 2. Let the sleepless nights rage on @alikrieger … I wouldn’t want it any other way. Ocean Maeve Krieger-Harris, welcome to the family baby boy. Your Moms and big sister love you very much.”

“Welcome to the world, Ocean Maeve!” wrote Krieger. “We are so thrilled for our growing family and couldn’t be more excited to have two beautiful babies to share life with! Baby Boy, you are so loved and adored already and I’m so proud to be your Mommy.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/ChVO7GUu1hv/

[lawrence-related id=6028,6023]

WATCH: USWNT stars call out male counterparts to get behind push for equal pay

U.S. Women’s National Team stars Ashlyn Harris and Ali Krieger are calling for their male counterparts to get behind their push for equal pay.

U.S. Women’s National Team stars Ashlyn Harris and Ali Krieger are calling for their male counterparts to get behind their push for equal pay.

The USWNT received class status on Nov. 8 in its gender discrimination lawsuit against the US Soccer Federation, which opens the door for any athlete who was a part of the women’s team national team camp or a game since Feb. 14, 2014, can now join the class-action suit.

But Harris and Krieger believe that in order for the equal pay fight to succeed, the members of the U.S. Men’s National Team need to be a part of the battle. In March, several of the men’s players spoke with Yahoo! Sports saying they support the women, and the USMNT players association released a statement in July which aimed to dispel a factsheet released by the U.S. Soccer Federation that claimed that the women have actually been paid more than the men.

“I think at the end of the day, we need men to step up, and we need these men to see our value and to see our worth and take a stance and say, ‘You know what? This is not okay. We need to make a change and our children need to make a change.’ And I think that is right now the (…) thing that’s missing,” Harris said, speaking to PowerPlays.news, which is a newsletter about sexism in sports which reporter Lindsay Gibbs launched in late October.

Mediation talks between US Soccer and the women broke down in August and a new trial date is set for May 2020, but Harris insists that she and the cause for equal pay needs, “boys and teenagers and adult men to really value and appreciate these women who are giving so much.”

USWNT stars Ashlyn Harris, Ali Krieger call out male counterparts to get behind push for equal pay

U.S. Women’s National Team stars Ashlyn Harris and Ali Krieger are calling for their male counterparts to get behind their push for equal pay.

U.S. Women’s National Team stars Ashlyn Harris and Ali Krieger are calling for their male counterparts to get behind their push for equal pay.